Wireless charging for iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4?

It seems that for their next flagship smartphones, both Apple and Samsung are going to adopt wireless charging technology in some form.

This is already used by several manufacturers, for example, Nokia with its Lumia 920 phone.

Essentially, the tech allows owners to charge their smartphone without attaching any cables, they just have to put the handset on a charging device (or “pillow” as they’re commonly referred to, although we wouldn’t recommend sleeping on one).

The rumour is (courtesy of DigiTimes) that the Galaxy S4 (to be unveiled next week) and iPhone 5S (assuming that’s what it’s called) will both carry wireless charging.

The S4 should adopt the Qi wireless charging tech of a fashion – that’s to say it won’t be built into the basic model, but you will be “required to buy replacement back covers for [the] smartphone for access to a charging pad,” Digitimes sources stated.

It’s also an unknown whether Apple will integrate the tech, or use other “attached accessories.”

Apple is also likely to use its own standard – as ever, see the Lightning connector – just to keep everything nice and non-uniform in the mobile industry.